A top-tier research professional's hand-picked selection of documents from academe, corporations, government agencies (including the Congressional Research Service), interest groups, NGOs, professional societies, research institutes, think tanks, trade associations, and more.

There were 2,686 infant deaths (deaths under 1 year) in England and Wales in 2013, compared with 2,912 infant deaths in 2012 and 6,381 in 1983.

In 2013, the infant mortality rate was 3.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, the lowest ever recorded in England and Wales. This compares with an infant mortality rate of 4.0 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012 and 10.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1983.

Infant mortality rates were lowest for babies of mothers aged 25 to 29 years (3.4 deaths per 1,000 live births) and highest for babies of mothers aged under 20 years (6.1 deaths per 1,000 live births).

In the UK, 8% of people in employment were also in relative income poverty in 2013, equivalent to around 3 million people.

Over the period 2007-2012, of people aged 18-59 who were not working and living in a household in poverty, 70% of those who entered employment left poverty.

There are a number of employment-related factors which affect how likely it is people will move out of poverty after getting a job. This includes the level of pay, as well as whether the job is full-time or part-time (and if part-time the number of hours). Other factors, such as the composition of the household people live in may also have an impact.

People taking up temporary roles are no less likely to leave poverty than those taking up permanent contracts. However, temporary workers are more likely to see their income fall below the poverty threshold the following year.

70% of those leaving in-work poverty did so following an increase in their hourly pay, including those taking up a new job, while an increase in average hours was associated with 38% of exits from in-work poverty.

Workplace pension scheme membership has increased to 59% in 2014, from 50% in 2013, driven by increases in membership of occupational defined contribution and group personal and group stakeholder schemes.The increase is likely to be driven by automatic enrolment.

Occupational defined benefit pensions schemes represented less than half (49%) of total workplace pension membership in 2014, for the first time since the series began in 1997.

Pension membership increased in all age groups in 2014 compared with 2013, with the largest increase (17 percentage points, to 53%) in the age group 22-29.

In the private sector, 33% of employees with workplace pensions made contributions of greater than zero but under 2% compared with 11% of employees in 2013. The increase is likely to be driven by automatic enrolment.

The proportion of employees in the private sector receiving employer contributions of greater than zero and under 4% was 43% in 2014, compared with 22% in 2013. The increase may be explained by new members who have been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension with lower initial employer contributions until the phasing of contributions is completed in 2018.

The inflation experience of UK households has varied between 2003 and 2014.

The rate of inflation experienced by lower-spending households has averaged 3.3% per year over this period, compared with 2.3% per year for the higher-spending households.

The rate of inflation experienced by among the lowest income households has averaged 2.7% per year, compared with 2.4% per year for those around two-thirds of the way up the income distribution.

Price growth has also been faster for retired households than for non-retired households, and for households without children relative to households with children, although these differences are smaller than those seen between income and expenditure groups.

Inflation differences within sub-groups are also substantial, in particular among retired households.

Housing costs, and the prevalence of owner-occupation play an important role in the inflation experience of households.

A ‘democratically-weighted’ price index – which weights the inflation experience of households equally – would have been around 0.3 percentage points higher than the CPI on average over this period.

This article focuses on people’s relationships with both family and friends. However, these relationships do not operate in isolation, and relationships within the wider community and the workplace are also analysed. The ONS Measuring National Well-being programme aims to produce accepted and trusted measures of the well-being of the nation – how the UK as a whole is doing.

This story analyses the characteristics of those living alone within the household population aged 16 and over, and the broader usually resident population, using data from the 2011 Census. Characteristics analysed include age and sex, housing tenure, qualifications and ethnicity. Geographical variations in those living alone are also highlighted.

In 2011–13, the inequality in life expectancy between the local areas with the highest and lowest figures was greater for newborn baby boys than girls, but slightly greater for women than men at age 65.

The inequality in life expectancy between the local areas with the highest and lowest figures increased for newborn baby boys, but reduced for girls between 2007–09 and 2011–13.

Life expectancy at birth and at age 65 increased at a faster pace in London, the North East and the North West compared with other regions between 2007–09 and 2011–13.

In 2011–13, approximately 32% of local areas in the East, 43% in the South East and 28% in the South West were in the fifth of areas with the highest male life expectancy at birth.

In contrast, there was no local area in the North East and Wales in this group. A similar pattern was observed for females.

In 2011–13, life expectancy for newborn baby boys was highest in South Cambridgeshire (83.0 years); 8.7 years longer than in Blackpool with the lowest (74.3 years).

For newborn baby girls, life expectancy was highest in Chiltern (86.4 years); 6.4 years longer than in Manchester with the lowest (80.0 years).

For men at age 65, life expectancy was highest in Harrow (21.1 years) and lowest in Manchester (16.0 years).

For women at age 65, life expectancy was highest in Camden (24.0 years) and lowest in Halton (18.8 years).